Just drop a ball off at the Pro Shop to be drilled. Never used this guy before. He measures my hand. I go on to tell him what I am trying to do with the ball and a little about my style/game.
He says to me, "I know what you're trying to do, Knock down 12 strikes like everyone else."

I replied, Well that would be nice...lol

He says: "Let me tell you something, This Ball won't do it. When you are ready to buy a Ball that will, come see me"
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Winning and Losing are both very temporary things. Having done one or the other, we move on. Gloating over Victory or Sulking in Defeat is a good way to Stand Still.

He probably also has some swampland in Florida to sell you.

The pro shop I go to lists the prices of all the balls for the blank ball.  There is a separate price list for drillings, slugs, grips, etc.  Having established a permanent close loyal customer status with this shop, he gives me discounts on equipment and drillings.  The shop does a high volume, so I guess he can afford to do this.  I would gain nothing from Internet shopping.  It's a win situation for both sides.

Even though I have this pro shop to go to for all my purchases, I stop in every pro shop I see to have a look around and maybe some conversation to size the place up.  I'm pretty knowledgeable about bowling equipment, but don't act like it when I'm in these shops.  To my great dismay I have found that the vast majority of "pro" shops give out loads of misleading, erroneous, and just plain stupid advice.  I've heard the type of comment that Kevin mentioned in pro shops before, usually from a teenage employee who is highly impressed with his status as a pro shop employee.  If the proprietor said something like that, I'd be gone and never come back.

A word of advice to pro shop operators:  You're better off to assume that all of your customers are highly knowledgeable and tell them the truth.  (Of course, you should tell them the truth even if they're idiots.)  Don't assume that your customers are as dumb as they act.

Shiv

Er um, about that 12 strike ball.

Do you take er um paypal sir?

Thanks,

Luckylefty

I think I am going to ask him if the ball he wants to sell me is Guaranteed a 300 game.
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Winning and Losing are both very temporary things. Having done one or the other, we move on. Gloating over Victory or Sulking in Defeat is a good way to Stand Still.

That's how it should be done, mumzie.  Of course, there are some difficult things that make you gunshy with a pro shop.  If somebody comes in and tells us they want to change something, we do it, no problem.  The thing is though, you have some dumb people that get their ball, and it didn't feel quite like they'd expected, so naturally we did something wrong, and they either want it free or want us to redo it for free.  Maybe it's just my city, the boss and his brother are from another city, and they say Topeka it absolutely awful.  Topeka people are pretty terrible, they're rude, cheap, AND stupid.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!

Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret?  New names still being pondered . . .

Bjaardker, The Ball is a Monster ScreamR.
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Winning and Losing are both very temporary things. Having done one or the other, we move on. Gloating over Victory or Sulking in Defeat is a good way to Stand Still.

Back before I knew much about ball designs and drillings, I bought everything from the local pro shop guy here, and now I realize he was/is a complete idiot.  I bought 3 balls from him and they were all drilled differently (span and pitch) and all he would sell me were Zones.  Well, after taking off a few seasons, I came back and still had only the old stuff to throw.  Well, I had those worked on by Ron Williams over in Fort Worth and I started using ONLY him to do all my stuff.  I started buying balls over the internet and I had him drill them for me, and I guess my better business mind took control, because I felt sort of bad for him not getting any money off the ball.  I actually talked to him about it once, and he told me not to worry about it because he made money on the drilling.  Well, when he drilled another internet ball for me, I went ahead and bought a new spare ball from him and I told him that when I got the money together, I would buy a higher priced ball from him to sort of make up for the balls he drilled for me that I got off the net.  Well, 2 weeks ago I finally got the money and I went in asking for his advice.  He sold me the Columbia Flipside WOW, and I totally love the ball.  I made a special trip to the shop just to thank him for the ball recommendation.  We talked about the whole internet thing, and he said it doesn't bother him to drill stuff that is brought in, as long as the person doesn't go in the shop and ask his advice, and then go get the ball elsewhere and come back and ask him to drill it.  Bottom line I guess is Ron Williams is a great pro shop owner, and a great ball driller.
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Corey
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I think I'm having a breakdown... I've never felt so comfortable.